NURSES working with St David’s Hospice in Gwent are breaking down language barriers thanks to the generosity of Coventry Building Society.

The staff at the building society’s Chepstow branch have been getting stuck in to charity fund raising over recent months, including two colleagues who were plastered in psychedelic powder paint in a Kolor Dash at Newport’s Tredegar Park.

Coventry Building Society’s customer service assistants and Kolor Dash veterans Rebecca Lane and Nicola Lambert raised £380 through sponsorship from customers in the branch. The society matched the amount raised.

After adding this to funds the branch had raised previously, St David’s Hospice Care was able to buy ipads for the benefit of patients.

The devices are being used by patients at the day hospice and also as a vital translation tool for those patients and their families who do not speak English.

St David’s Hospice Care has also received a grant of £1,000 from the Coventry Building Society’s Community Partner Fund to buy a Sara Stedy for patients. The equipment provides mobility-promoting support and encourages more mobile patients and residents to stand up independently.

St David’s Hospice Care had been using the Sara Stedy on a free-trial basis for a week and has found it invaluable and they wished to purchase one for permanent use with the help from Coventry Building Society.

Gemma Carter, of St David’s Hospice Care, said: “The Chepstow branch of the Coventry are brilliant at supporting our charity and prepared to get really stuck in to help us. The ipads are a fantastic dual purpose resource for the hospice as they provide entertainment and are also very valuable in helping us over come any language barriers that we may encounter.

“We’re also delighted with the Sara Stedy and really can’t thank the Coventry enough for their very valued, continued support.”

Rebecca Lane, customer service assistant at the Chepstow branch, said: “We all enjoy supporting St David’s Hospice Care even if it’s meant at times getting really mucky during an event such as the Kolor Dash which, in reality, was great fun. It’s good to know that what we do is so greatly appreciated by St David’s Hospice Care which provides such marvellous care throughout our community.”

The Coventry Building Society has been supporting St David’s Hospice Care since 2009 as part of its Community Partners programme which sees each branch support a local charity or community group through fundraising and volunteering.